My First Leather Sheath

6

6shooter

Joined
Sep 12, 2009
Messages
1,268
I've been interesting in leather working for a long time now, and finally picked up some tools and leather to try my hand at it today. I made a basic pouch style sheath for my Landi MPS. I used 7oz. vegtanned leather and Fiebings Mahogany dye. I can already see areas for immediate improvement and adjustment on the next one, but overall I'm happy with how it turned out.

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Any feedback and constructive criticism is more than welcome. Thanks to everyone that's posted up their work, I learned lots and was inspired by the tutorials, WIP threads, and just regular pictures people have posted up.

I have a couple of questions. What do you guys use for sealing the leather after dyeing it? I used some NikWax Fabric and Leather proofer I had at home, and it works alright, water beads up and runs off the outside of the sheath. But some dye bled off the inside and stained the knife scales a little bit. Perhaps I didn't allow enough time for it to dry though.

Also, I was going to pick up some beeswax to seal and form the sheath, but it was pretty expensive, so it'll have to wait. Will paraffin wax work instead? How do you apply wax to a sheath? I was thinking rub it on the leather, then heat it up with a blowdryer, and use a cloth to smooth it out and rub it in.

Thanks for reading, and for any feedback. I can't wait to try it again :D
 
mtnfolk mike said:
nice work..:thumbup: that came out great, especially for your first sheath..:)
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Thanks a lot Mike, your work is some of my favourite stuff. I'm thinking about doing a square bottom bushcrafter type sheath for my next one. I really enjoyed making this one, leather is a lot of fun:)
 
Nice first effort.....looks good and solid.
Leather finish is one of those line-12-guys-up-and-ask-them-the-same-question-you'll-get-12-different-answers kinda thing.
Any leather conditioner will work......it you have access to Fiebings products they have a few different ones.....you'll see as you progress you'll try several and you'll decide which one you like working with, and which gets the results you like.
Tan-Kote is a favorite of many leather workers.
 
rayban said:
Nice first effort.....looks good and solid.
Leather finish is one of those line-12-guys-up-and-ask-them-the-same-question-you'll-get-12-different-answers kinda thing.
Any leather conditioner will work......it you have access to Fiebings products they have a few different ones.....you'll see as you progress you'll try several and you'll decide which one you like working with, and which gets the results you like.
Tan-Kote is a favorite of many leather workers.
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Thanks. It may not be the prettiest sheath out there, but it hasn't fallen apart yet:).

It's almost mind boggling how many different leather treatment products there are, it's nice to hear what a lot of people prefer, even just to use as a starting point.

Dusty One said:
Nice looking sheath..............
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Thank you :)
 
Nicely done! Did you use a stitch wheel for your spacing or eyeball? I have been wanting to make a couple of my own for a while now, never seem to be able to squeeze the time in. Good on ya!:thumbup:
 
Alberta Ed said:
Very similar to the sheaths I make. I seal mine with SnowSeal.
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I'm going to pick up some Snoseal. A lot of people seem to recommend it, And it sounds like it does just what I want it to.

Ebbtide said:
Very nice first effort!
Much better than my first attempt...
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Thanks :)

dboles said:
Nice work
Dan'l
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Thanks Dan'l.

AKC said:
Nicely done! Did you use a stitch wheel for your spacing or eyeball? I have been wanting to make a couple of my own for a while now, never seem to be able to squeeze the time in. Good on ya!:thumbup:
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Thank you :). I did use a stitching wheel. If you get the time, I'd recommend giving it a shot, I had a lot of fun with it.
 
I just completed a sheath using a mixture of beeswax, paraffin, and neatsfoot oil. I used equal parts of the bees and paraffin wax and added oil till it felt right, experimenting because I didn't want to use too much of the neatsfoot.

I heated it up in a double boiler setup till fully liquid and combined, while this was heating I had the sheath getting hot in the toaster oven on 150.

When the sheath was hot to the touch (but not too hot to handle) I took an old toothbrush and smeared on the liquid wax/oil mix some soaked in right away, the rest solidified on the surface in a thin coat. Then I took a hair dryer on hot, and worked the wax/oil mix into the leather. I would heat it up allowing it to be pulled in, then massage the sheath with my hands. Then repeat.

I don't have my camera on me now, or I would get a pic. After it had all been absorbed, I buffed it vigorously with a microfiber towel to a nice glow. For one small final touch, I took a light wipe of mink oil and buffed again to make it just a tad shinier. It turns water like a duck's back.

As for your beeswax being expensive...do you have a hobby lobby locally? They have their newest coupon starting tomorrow for 40% off any one item. 1lb of yellow or white beeswax runs $14.99 before the coupon, which brings it down to a more manageable $9. 1 lb of beeswax will last for a WHILE if you are mixing it equally with inexpensive paraffin.
 
Thanks Grizz, I'll try that out. Cutting the beeswax with paraffin sounds like a good idea, no hobby lobbys in canada I don't think though. What do you do to coat the inside of the sheath to prevent dye from bleeding onto the knife scales?
 
You can finish the inside with gum trag or any of the other top coats out there. I used the same beeswax and paraffin mixture just worked down the inside of the sheath with my fingers and a wool dauber. Then focused the heat from the blow dryer inside and it soaked it right in.
 
Looks great Shooter... It is hard to tell did you put a Welk in there?
+1 on the SnoSeal and I use the Gum Trag Grizzly mentioned to burnish the edges when it is all done.

Sometimes I enjoy the leather work more than the knife work, and sometimes I don't!
 
GrizzlyBear said:
You can finish the inside with gum trag or any of the other top coats out there. I used the same beeswax and paraffin mixture just worked down the inside of the sheath with my fingers and a wool dauber. Then focused the heat from the blow dryer inside and it soaked it right in.
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That sounds good to me, I'll give the wax thing a go when I get my mitts on some beeswax, thanks bro.

RyanW said:
Looks great Shooter... It is hard to tell did you put a Welk in there?
+1 on the SnoSeal and I use the Gum Trag Grizzly mentioned to burnish the edges when it is all done.

Sometimes I enjoy the leather work more than the knife work, and sometimes I don't!
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Thanks Ryan. Yeah there's a welt in there, sorry my pics suck. I quite enjoyed working this one, would love to make my own blades, but that's a looong ways out.
 
Just a note of caution...
For those that don't know, beeswax, paraffin are both flammable.
While I haven't used one, my knife making buddy sez:
"Yard sale electric frying pans have no flame" :)
 
Yeah I use the double boiler method to melt wax to make sure it doesn't get hot enough to ignite. I can't imagine it would be all that fun putting out a wax fire in the kitchen:)
 
Yardsale electric fryers, old crock pots, double boilers...they all work well. The electric fryers and crockpots work especially well for dipping the sheath.
 
You have any advice for buying leather? I think I'm up to speed on the tools and such, but I have no local source for leather, leaving me to sort through 1 million internet stores.
 
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